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i've been having my moments of being nervous or anxious, but then i look at success stories and i'm back to feeling excited and determined! i'm sure i'll be nervous the night before and the day of because its a surgery... but i've come this far and there's no looking back... just looking forward to our new lives! and like jflo said... God will definitely see us through and give us strength and guide the surgeons! i'm on day 4 of my pre-op liquids too. each day has a been a little better. yesterday afternoon i was having such a hard time with it... i literally almost started crying on the phone as i called and complained to my mom about it. lol i also woke up feeling better this morning. whats funny is that i've been vegetarian for 4 years and in the last few weeks i've been craving a mcdonalds burger! LOL what on earth?? so funny! my body is going nuts i think! nice to meet you both and lets definitely stay in touch! let me know how you're surviving day 4!!

Watching a documentary and considering it. What do you eat or cook? sleeved November 8th. 27yrs. HW 273 SW 233 CW 215. IG @macon_me

I'm a vegetarian! You can find a Facebook support group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1646059515642538/

I asked my surgeon how many calories a day I should be aiming for, and he told me there was no minimum. I can't imagine getting 800 right now unless I really stepped it up with more fats. Right now I'm averaging between 500-600 calories and 70-75g of Protein (and all vegetarian: don't let them tell you it's not possible!). I hope to get to 80g a day by the end of the month. The nutritionist I want to see has not gotten back to me about an appointment, however, and I don't know if she'll tell me something different. Honestly, from here I mostly just want very clear instructions about when to take which supplements. There's so much conflicting information.

Ooh! Thanks for this website. I've been mostly vegetarian for almost three years (I say mostly because I eat fish but no other animal products). I wish I had an appetite. Since the day I was banded I've had none.

Whoo hooo go Jen. We also have a list of vegetarian Protein sources. Vega is great, Garden of Life is, I've tried Sun Warrior. There are pea Proteins, etc. too. Can you get some of those and show them to the doctor and ask why they would have a problem with it if you got the 60 grams from your food and those? Beans are great too.

@@LDAF Greetings! I'm an RN living in PA and works in Baltimore Maryland, about an hour south. For soft foods, soup was my friend and vegetarian chili. Also cheese sticks were great buddies! If you are a fish fan, tilapia and salmon are great. I fried mine in a pan with olive oil, lemon, and a touch of salt and pepper. The oil helps the plumbing out... If you can't tolerate the oil, I'm sure Pam would work fine. Looks like you have made great progress.

Hi! I am not vegan...i would say that you might want to check out vegan athlete blogs. A lot of those writers talk about protein consumption and being vegan. I believe a lot of protein powders are veg but aren't vegan...vega is good - I'm not sure what your nut will think or if they have a unflavored variety. My nut recommends Ripple due to its protein amount - non dairy mixer for protein shakes. You could make veggie broth (pre surgery) and add protein to it. I didn't drink any broth. Just water and protein shakes during my liquid phase. Once you are out of liquids you can't have any meat alternatives till week 5, such as veggie burgers but that is just my nut's opinion. You can have tofu in the soft pureed food stage. Wild sprouts has a high protein tofu. I made a lentil soup and pureed it with high protein tofu. You can do smoothies with silken tofu, too. After week 5 or 6 you should totally be good. You can have meat subs and I think I will make my own seitan (wheat gluten). I got the thumbs up by nut etc. I am not a medical expert I just think being vegan or vegetarian requires a little more research and logging everything to make sure you hit ur protein goals. Good luck. I hope your nut will learn from you and change her mind.

Quick article on plant based Keto Anyone attempting this? https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/vegetarian-keto-diet?mbg_p=amp&mbg_ref=search_related

The "elimination of carbs" was never suggested by my treatment team. They support vegetarianism but are very hesitant about veganism, at least early out. I kind of understand being hesitant about a 100% plant based diet early out. Later on, when one can eat enough food to meet all nutrient requirements it's not really a problem. However, from what I can tell from this board is that treatment teams in the US seem to follow an anti-carbohydrate and low-calorie approach at least in many, many cases. Not sure if you can find a center near you that handles things differently.

I got mine 10 years ago and it worked great-until it didn't. I was never able to eat meat without getting sick, so I just became a vegetarian, but I was OK with that and now I'm happy about it. But back in January I started to slime and vomit almost immediately after EVERY meal, so I had the fill removed and then only got sick about three times a week. But that respite only lasted about 2 months, then I was getting sick again, even after just drinking water sometimes. They did barium swallows and it looked great-no slips, dilations-things of that sort-but still something was wrong. So I went back to the surgeon where he explained that if even if everything looked great on an x-ray, scar tissue develops where the band rubs the stomach, and that's what's causing the restrictions even with no fill in the band. And it was just a matter of time before it restricted so bad NOTHING would get through it without much difficulty. So it's coming out Nov 20 and being revised to an RNY during the same surgery, and I can't wait. I hope I'm not changing one problem for another, but I don't think so. The plus of this is the transition should be easy since I've practiced the "eating rules" for 10 years and know the difference between "head hunger" and true hunger, and maybe finally I can eat without dreading it and wondering "would I get sick THIS meal". I know the portions will still be small, but if they go down without the sliming and "productive burping" and pain I'll be happy!

Thank you so much for your response! I'm already completely unfilled and have been since June of 2009. I know its a ton of upchucking which is why I wanted to ask, It doesn't appear to be very medical, I literally take to big of bites eat to hard of foods as well as a lot of raw foods) and don't chew enough. I am never in any pain, I feel no pain after and I only eject the food because I hate that "pressure" in my chest, drool starts to well up and I can barely talk because ive got food caught in my band and the spit has no where to go, its a bit aggravating, my mood even changes if im "blocked up" im a vegetarian and a all natural eater so the food I eat is a bit "rough" on my band I think. Its just that its been bothering me. i eat so much whole grains and brown rice it LOVES gettin caught in the band and it began to worry me. I do have the terrible habbit of not chewing enough or i tend to drink something right after and it gets caught. i do have a stomach doctor * its the guy that removed all my CCs when preggos* he even had a barium xray done on me Jan of 09 and sent it to a specialist in France. The specialist and him were happy about how the band was looking. I am/was to embarrassed to ask him in depth about the upchucking as I am pretty sure its just me eating to quick. He also didnt ask or go to far in depth with how much/how often I eject I mean it could be worth asking my doctor about but I literally wanted to know if there is any true side effects. I know what the docs gonna say... Slow down! :biggrin: hehe:wub: Ps- i also apologies as I don't think this is in the right forum. :/

I was ready to hear that i had to have around 60gr and that was fine with me, it's just that 100gr seems impossible fod me as a vegetarian, really. It's not that i'm not commited. It's that it doesn't sound realistic at all. Most vegetarians i know eat around 30 or 40, even the ones who've undergone the surgery.

The bottom line is that this is a life long journey with a very short window of "quick" weight loss. And you only have one golden shot at it. Because revisions are not usually as "easy-ish" as the first time. So you do you, Boo. But I think for you to be so categoricaly mis-aligned with your doc/RD that it's going to make your journey difficult and the sad thing is you will likely give up going to your check-ups etc. Which could spell disaster for you long term and regain in your future. So like, why have it at all? Or why have it with them. There are docs/centers who espouse a WFPD for all their surgical patients. Look one of them up and make the transition now. I will also tell you that I DO have a bias. I am pro-low carb and pro-lower healthy fat for the quickest losses and maintenance is done by adding healthy fats rather than adding protein or more fast acting carbs. I would have never gotten to my goal nor been maintaining had I been eating the grains and lots of fruit. I wouldn't. I have too many metabolic strikes against me. And not that it can't be done, but I think the life of a vegan or vegetarian WLS patient is very hard. The ones I know of in real life have either not gotten to goal ever or they have suffered big time regain. But I do know of a couple of women here who are very successful following a WFPD. But, they are also endurance athletes and as such, they're as much outliers as I am... I encourage you to look at other bariatric teams who are more closely aligned with your belief system. Studies show that long term success is directly linked to after care by a team of bari pros.

Thanks for all your input everyone, I will take it all into consideration going forward. I will also look into finding a nutritionist that understands vegetarianism and bariatric surgery to make things a bit easier. Thank you!

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

@FluffyChix & @AJ Tylo are right & I especially agree with the suggestion to find a team (or at least a nutritionalist) who understands what a vegetarian lifestyle entails. Carbs in foods like bread, pasta, rice, cereals have low fibre, high GI and are digested quickly. That means you’re hungry again sooner & your blood sugar levels will swing. Post WLS, carbs fill up your small tummy before you can consume the vital nutrients like protein you need. In saying that, I ate plain oatmeal for breakfast, as an alternative to eggs, once I was into my 4th month post surgery (2/3 of my original weight loss goal lost) - 1 serve was = to 3 or 4 meals. Oatmeal has a lower GI than other carbs, is a whole grain, contains protein & soluble fibre. Steel cut are best as are less processed. Now in maintenance I eat multigrain crackers with hummus & avocado as a snack option. There are plenty of low carb/ no carb options available you can enjoy once down the weight loss path. I love zucchini noodles & last night I had cauliflower & kale rice. You can eat them on your pre surgery keto (no carb) diet. Use this time pre surgery to reassess your eating habits and try new things. Look into keto diet plans for vegetarians to get you started. It’s the start of a new life.

I think you should just set up a weekly vegetarian low carb diet plan, Get away from the gimick diets and plans, You are in this for the long journey - There are great threads on this site for vegetarian meal plans - I personally eat meat so can not help you but look at those threads Good luck

I have been vegetarian (technically pescatarian as I eat canned tuna sometimes) for 12 years. Now post-op and seriously thinking of giving up on being a vegetarian. I don’t want to have to be reliant on protein shakes & processed proteins, and I’m not a fan of Tofu 🤪 So, I’m going to start with Chicken (Poultry) and see how it goes. (I actually became vegetarian as I had issues eating meat - it would get “stuck”…but it’s been so long, maybe my body has changed) I love to travel - and if can eat basic proteins it will be much simpler.

Just do the best that you can do and don't worry about trying to be the poster child for the band. If it was easy to diet, we wouldn't have this band around our stomachs! And trying to tackle multiple bad habits at once in a short time is just asking for trouble. You call it failure. I think trying to do it all at one is gearing yourself up for a letdown. Rice and bread and Pasta. Once you get the band and are restricted, you will not eat very much of them again. Have you checked out any vegetarian websites for people that have WLS? You may want to check them out, to see how they are doing with eating Proteins, etc.. Here is one link, but I am sure that there are others: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/vegetarianbandster/ I do have to say, that the sooner you get off of the carbs, the easier you will have it after surgery. When you first stop eating the carbs, you kind of go through a withdrawl. It is MUCH better to go through that before surgery when you can eat other things, than after the surgery when you are on liquids. But do the best you can and really, go easy with yourself. Do what you can and the rest will follow... Hugs!

SO true. For example, I spent about 30 min on my post in the vegetarian thread posting about good cookbooks, finding the website for them etc.And in another light, I think people forget that many newbies do searches to see if their questions or situation has been discussed before. Deleting threads can short-change others, getting the info they seek. I deleted mine today to move it to a more appropiate section, no one had posted in it, but I would never have deleted it if people were in discussion.

Hey! The vegetarian discussion was deleted. :-( WTF??

My mother's opinion on how American's make veggies is that they are boring. Take cooked spinach, bleah who would eat that. Add some garlic however and you got something! My sister has two boys both grew up in a house that was practically vegetarian for many years. One won't eat vegetables.

My surgery date is March 6th and I am trying to prepare myself for the pre-op diet. I just tried to have vegetable broth and I hated it! What are my options as far as a meal plan?

i am 10 weeks out. i have not lost interest in food i lost my huge probably football sized stomach. i am vegetarian..ate healthy but huge meals pre op. i am now eating same of food minus all carbs. i am looking forward to losing the weight and then maintaining my weight with a diet similar too sleeve of steel. had this surgery to have a more normal appetite like a typical person. i do understand this is a tool and Will require work. i don't want to eat the calories i take in long term....i don't think it's the healthiest....